Central Perk
Central Perk is a coffee house that the regulars visit often throughout the series. It is situated in New York City's Greenwich Village, near Monica's apartment. It was one of the show's main sets in which the six main characters spent much of their free time conversing. One of the main reasons for this was the fact that it was, as Joey proves in The One With George Stephanopoulos, less than 100 steps from his apartment, counting 97 steps from the apartment to the inside of the shop. It is based on Cholmondeley's, a coffee shop and lounge in Usen Castle at Brandeis University, the alma mater of the show's creators. The name is a play on words of 'Central Park' (referring to the park, also in New York) and 'perk', referring either to the stimulation gained from coffee consumption or the coffee percolation process. Staff Management under new management Central perk has now re-opened its doors the new decor has now changed back to being The Bar with new Furnishing and equipment Tables and Chairs and a Snooker Table and a Jukebox and brand new lighting and a Long Pine Newly furnished Bar with new Stools plus new Manager Tony Tribbiani who runs and works there He has recently hired new Staff who now works there Waitress played by Leah Remini and new Waiter played by James Michael Tyler and between them they share 50 per cent of the work load but mainly Tony Tribbiani sorts out the finance's and has become the local Business man who looks after the Staff and is in charge of the nights entertainment he also takes his job very serious he has also hired new barman Chris who has been shown his duties his job is to provide drinks and welcome the charecters who comes in and makes sure they have a good time Serving Staff Rachel greene Rachel works as a waitress at Central Perk from the start of the show till half-way through Season 3. Being pretty much a spoiled, self-centered girl at this point, Rachel clearly shows ineptitude at work, mixing up orders, neglecting her waitressing duties, and showing little care about where everything goes and how it should be done. Ironically, in The One With The Flashback, Rachel is a client at what at that time was the bar, and she comments on the waitress who brings her and her friends some slightly mixed-up drinks, remarking: "how hard is it to get a couple of drinks right?". It turns out that Rachel does not care for her job at Central Perk, but being her only financial income, she has to stick to it. However, she does try for other job opportunities in fashion (mostly during Season 1), with little success. In Season 3, she decides to pursue the fashion business again after Gunther assigns her to re-training, quitting her waitressing job to work with Fortunata Fashions, then moving on to Bloomingdale's. Joey Tribbiani Joey becomes a waiter at the coffee shop half-way through Season 6. His acting career being at a standstill, Joey is tight on money, so much that he can't afford paying for coffee. When he explains this to Gunther, he admits his bankruptcy, which makes Gunther suggest to him to get a job as a waiter, outlining how "the money's good, plus you get to stare at Rachel as much as you want". Joey reluctantly takes the waitering job. Like Rachel, Joey shows ineptitude at the job. Unlike Rachel, however, this is mostly due to his immaturity coinciding with the house's policies. He forgets people's orders, eats their leftover snacks, and gives free food to hot girls to try and score dates, but Gunther takes his tips for the day and explains how free food is only a treat for birthday people. Joey then uses this to sing "Happy Birthday" to twenty women in a single day, to which Gunther reacts by forbidding Joey "to distribute birthday muffins". However, later in the season, Joey's acting career takes a step forward when he gets the lead role in Mac & C.H.E.E.S.E.. This makes him quit his waitering job, which he does without mentioning anything to Gunther. Gunther, however, points this out to him in The One With The Ring, and that he was going to fire Joey anyway. Layout and furniture Throughout the coffee shop are small tables with chairs that extras on the show usually occupy. These, from the main camera angle, are behind the large orange sofa in the middle of the shop. The green chair on the right, the coffee table table, and the table and chair on the left are nearly always used as the main setting for any scenes in Central Perk. In the earlier episodes, irrespective of how busy the coffee shop became, those seats were always available. The writers turned this into a joke and, in the first episode of season three, the six main characters arrive in the shop to find their seats taken, apparently by Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane, the shows creators. They then look at each other, puzzled, and walk out. The artwork in the back of Central Perk was changed every three episodes (including images of King Kong and Uncle Sam), but the layout of the furniture remained largely unchanged for the entire series. The "Big Orange Couch" The most prominent fixture of Central Perk is the large orange couch that the characters usually sit on. It usually seats four of the Friends at one time. One of the others then occupies the green chair on the right and, if all six are present, there is a table with one chair to the left that seats the last person. Rarely is anyone else ever seen on the couch and the guys consider it their own. In one instance, Chandler is seen sitting reading, when a young man comes in and goes to sit down on the green chair, only for Chandler to promptly usher him away. Another example is when Rachel complains about sitting by the window instead of the couch. In The One With The Bullies two bullies 'steal' the seating area, and also steal Chandler's hat The couch is also seen in the opening credits of the show in front of the large fountain the cast of Friends dance in. At the end of the credits all of the friends sit on the couch at once as Monica turns off the lamp to the right. 13:14, February 16, 2010 (UTC) green13:14, February 16, 2010 (UTC) Entertainment Phoebe Buffay was also a regular fixture in Central Perk, and played songs such as Smelly Cat to often bemused audiences. Phoebe was, at one point, replaced by Stephanie Schiffer (played by Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders), a professional who was hired by Terry. It is also shown in The One With Phoebe's Ex-Partner that Central Perk holds open mics night Ross (played by David Schwimmer of The wonder years recently played Keyboards there Ashley Tribbiani (Ashley Tisdale) now works there as a full time Singer Janine (Elle Macperson ) works there as a dancer